... at stealing vast amounts of their constituencies' money. The 70 richest lawmakers in China are worth an estimated $90 billion dollars, according to Bloomberg News. They made $11 billion over the past year. How does that compare to their US counterparts, who aren't exactly slacking in the whole "using Congress as a way to fatten their already gigantic wallets" scheme?

The wealthiest member of the U.S. Congress is Representative Darrell Issa, the California Republican who had a maximum wealth of $700.9 million in 2010, according to the center. If he were in China's NPC, he would be ranked 40th. Per capita income in China is about one-sixth the U.S. level when adjusted for differences in purchasing power.

The wealth gap between legislatures holds with statistically comparable samples. The richest 2 percent of the NPC — 60 people — had an average wealth of $1.44 billion per person. The richest 2 percent of Congress — 11 members — had an average wealth of $323 million.